The days are growing hotter while weathermen forecast the approach of multiple typhoons of strange names coming from the western Pacific. But, thank God, the MERS epidemic seems finally over.

After two long months of nationwide alert, fatalities have stopped at 36 out of 186 people who were struck by the respiratory disease supposedly originating from camels in the Arabian desert. About a dozen are still under treatment but there have been no new outbreaks for over two weeks. Once-contaminated hospitals were allowed to begin receiving patients again and tens of thousands who were kept in precautionary sequestering have all been released. 

Politicians and politics did practically nothing to help combat the disease but added to people’s frustrations during the MERS crisis. Internal disputes continued within the ruling and opposition camps and partisan wrangling heated up over endless issues, the latest one involving the purchase of hacking programs by the state intelligence apparatus from an Italian firm. They could only take time out to take pictures with doctors and nurses in protective gear.

On the governing side, key players have somehow managed to exercise restraint to keep factional differences in check. Yet, the bad politics during national emergency introduced President Park Geun-hye venting her anger in a staff meeting for the first time since she took office. It was when she rebuked the floor leader of her Saenuri Party for his compromise with the opposition over a legislation program that she objected to for interfering in the administrative authority.

The president eventually vetoed the revision bill to the National Assembly Law allowing the legislature to demand the modification of an executive decree. Rep. Yoo Seong-min was replaced in the Saenuri’s caucus, soon after ruling party lawmakers killed the vetoed bill, this time by abstaining from voting. Oppositionists decried “authoritarian style” of Park’s rule and staged a brief demonstration at the Assembly steps. 

One may not be able to imagine U.S. President Barack Obama successfully pressuring Democratic members to replace minority leader Nancy Pelosi or whip Steny Hoyer for standing up against him, but such a thing happened here, setting Korean politics back by decades. What was more amazing was that Rep. Yoo in the following days jumped to the top place in popularity polls of potential presidential contenders in the ruling camp.

The main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy is in even deeper confusion with dissenters taking determined steps to form a new party centered on Honam (the southwestern) personalities. After defeats in two consecutive presidential elections, schism between the followers of two liberal former presidents, both of whom are dead, has widened to lose public support so hugely that many insiders plainly give up the hope of keeping the 10-year cycle of power transfer in 2017 or putting up a viable parliamentary contest next spring.

Here in Korea, dead leaders are still in control of the souls of live politicians. As the pro-Roh (Moo-hyun) faction under the rein of Moon Jae-in, the unsuccessful 2012 presidential candidate, shuns power-sharing with the minority pro-Kim (Dae-jung) group, the latter would rather seek alliance with outside forces, be they the perennial opportunists from the central region of Chungcheong or even possible defectors from the Saenuri, i.e. the pro-Lee (Myung-bak) “non-mainstreamers.” The MERS did not slow down the splitting process. 

Half of the five-year tenure has passed since Park Geun-hye was elected to the highest office, partly on her own leadership quality and partly on the public nostalgia toward her late father Park Chung-hee. Her feat in kicking Yoo Seong-min out of the leadership structure earlier this month was probably the last exhibit of her political prowess, and her remaining years in the Blue House will inevitably be a process of decline in her influence on the party.

Politicians not excluding President Park owe the people a collective apology for failing to lead them in their hard struggle against the deadly virus. In the early stage of the epidemic striking Seoul and its vicinity, the president played a rather obscure role in directing the government’s emergency endeavors. She had a lesson from the Sewol ferry incident last year but she again acted more like a “concerned” princess than a leader elected to fight adversities and share pains with the people.

To be absolved of criticisms, the president needs to do something that the people want rather than engage in power games. What is now necessary is bolstering the nation’s public health administration with personnel reinforcement and organizational upgrading. In the war against MERS, the line of command had non-experts in the top position and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which was supposed to act as field command, was more a research institute than a fighting machine. 

The CDCP is headquartered in the Osong Bioscience Complex not far from the Health and Welfare Ministry in Sejong City, but both are 150 kilometers away from Seoul. The scattered location of these government offices was cited as another negative factor in tackling the MERS situation. And many still blame the president for causing overall administrative inefficiency, recalling how she had foiled former President Lee Myung-bak’s attempt to scrap the program to split government ministries in Seoul and Sejong City.
 
President Park has to establish a truly reliable counter-epidemic system and network to cope with sudden attacks of contagious diseases on humans and animals, which are destined to increase in this age of massive global movements of people and foods. Recommended is setting up an independent administration for medical services as expert officials should be able to control both public and private medical institutions in emergencies and be authorized to mobilize and deploy medical personnel as promptly as necessary.

On that note, we need to study why the U.S. surgeon general is given the military rank of vice admiral and the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps is one of seven uniformed services of the United States.

The Blue House may be hesitant to create ministerial or vice ministerial positions in the area of public health and upgrade the anti-epidemic administration, worried that people might criticize repeating the kind of measures taken after the Sewol incident. The president is reminded that this is one of the few things that she should devote herself to, no matter what political issues may arise to distract her.

By Kim Myong-sik

Kim Myong-sik is a former editorial writer for The Korea Herald. – Ed.